Dear Friends,
It seems to me, history is like a charging elephant, and we’re riders who only set atop it for a mere moment, before being swept off, and replaced by the next generation. That’s why education is so important. My generation did a terrible job guiding the charging elephant, and providing education for the next generation, as proved by the times. Hopefully the next few generations will do a better job at controlling it and inculcating ethics, wisdom and humility to their progeny. The elephant of history runs on emotion. The rational part only an afterthought. As a result, history hurtles past in a blinding blur as we try our utmost to keep from falling off, and being trampled… like so many other civilizations before. To do so we need ethics, wisdom and humility.
One of the tools we need to control the elephant is ethics. Hypocrisy being the most unethical and utterly corrosive to our ability to control the future. The hypocrite goads the charging beast into the bushes, and in doing so, is swept off and trampled by history itself. Why? Because hypocrites and villains can’t control themselves let alone a charging elephant. How can one guide a beast when they can’t control their own proverbial arms and legs? As we become ever less ethical we become ever more spastic until we get moral ALS or Lou Gehrig disease. Because villains are lost in their own heads and become unable to use their own moral digits. Moreover, the corrupt could care less about the speed, direction or path of the elephant… only that they drive it.
Another tool is wisdom. Because wisdom allows us to see the future. Imagine trying to drive a car blindfolded? How would that work? What if the blind driver is brilliant? Would that help? Because that’s exactly what guiding the charging beast of history is like when we, and especially our elite, lack wisdom. How does wisdom allow us to see the future? Because wisdom is the ability to understand what’s going on around us. Intelligence is often confused with wisdom but they’re utterly different qualities. Intelligence is the ability to connive while wisdom is the ability to recognize conniving. Scheming is helpful when swindling someone but wholly useless when driving. The ability to see and recognize danger is far more important.
Humility is the key to unlocking both ethics and wisdom. Arrogance, the opposite of humility, is both blinding and debilitating. The arrogant connive to get power, wealth and prestige, while the humble forswear wealth, power and prestige, lifting those burdens from them. Unfortunately, the elephant is guided by the arrogant and not the humble. Because the blind and spastic arrogant have to be in charge. Their egos are tied up in it. Egoism is an attribute of arrogance. Egoists can’t see beyond their own wants. Moreover, egoists lack the ability to control their own actions. Take the example of Biden. He has never been held to any standard, is unwise to the nth degree, and humility is a thing he’s never experienced… and so he’s guiding the elephant into the brush. Along with the other world leaders.
Time goes by whether we notice it or not… and with it our lives. Every ten years you look back and wonder how ten years could possibly have gone by so fast. Worry not, the next ten will go by even faster. Which makes the ability to control the charging elephant of time all the more critical. Sadly, that elephant has been guided by arrogant, stupid and unethical elites. Which is why we’re hurdling towards the end times. The humble, sage and ethical are barred from guiding the beast by the elite. Because in their egoism, the elite don’t care how badly they screw up… only that they’re in charge of it. As Milton said, “It’s better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven…” the road map of the elite. Maybe it’s time to teach our kids wisdom, humility and ethics? So we don’t have to live in Hell.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
